Report: Israel Asked UK to Vote in Favor of UN Gaza Resolution

"A British newspaper claimed Monday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked his UK counterpart to vote in favor of the United Nations Human Rights Council resolution on the Gaza conflict on Friday, which accused Israel of possible war crimes.

Netanyahu also reportedly asked German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other unnamed allies to back the UNHCR resolution, which maintained Israel and Palestinian terror groups may have violated international law during last summer's 50-day conflict.

According to the Jewish Chronicle report, Jerusalem was concerned that if the resolution was shot down, a reformulated draft would be tougher on the Jewish state.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry all but denied the allegations Monday, saying it was opposed to the resolution, as stated in Jerusalem's official response.

British Prime Minister David Cameron believed the request was 'pure madness,' a source close to the prime minister said, but went along with it...

The Israeli Foreign Ministry said it opposed the resolution in a statement, but conceded that Jerusalem had asked its allies to ensure a harsher formulation was avoided.

'Israel announced to all the members of the Human Rights Council that it is strongly opposed to the resolution that was adopted, as was expressed in the State of Israel's formal response,' it said. 'At the same time, Israel asked the members of the council to ensure that the proposed text is not made harsher...'"